Celestial Seasonings

I added three drops each of honey and lemon. Sure, it has them in it already, but I have a voice jury in 3 hours. Going to go eat a small lunch and warm up in a while, but for now I’ll just relax and focus my mind. I love this tea!

Made some in my travel mug, which I took (empty) with me to the student center, and had refilled with very hot water. The second steep, unfortunately, yielded too bland a tea. I even let the bag just sit in the water. Took it out once in a while to test, but that shouldn’t affect it too much. So note to self: additional steeps are too watered down.
Drinking lots of tea because I have a voice jury in 2.5 hours. Joy.

A lot of my favorite things are in this tea. Green tea, plus a little white, means a milder tea flavor. Honey and lemon are typical remedies for vocalists, and the ginseng adds a nice spiciness that isn’t overpowering. I should drink this on a regular basis during seasons I typically have more allergy problems, or if I’m about to come down with something.

Ginger is my favorite spice, and so when I saw this in the shop last night, I had to get it, even though I’m trying to move to loose leaf rather than bagged tea. (And two other boxes came home too, but we’ll not speak of that. )

Once I removed the plastic, I was surprised that the the scent was so.. weak. Once brewed, the spice scent still had less ginger than expected, but was definitely better than just the smell of the tea bags.

Flavor-wise, it’s definitely a cookie flavor, and the tea tastes like a mild gingerbread cookie. The ginger doesn’t have a bite to it, and you can taste a few of the other spices.

I am enjoying this tea, but likely won’t buy another box – I prefer my flavors bold, and this is very mellow. But, it’s good, and if you like spice tea and mild gingerbread cookies, this is good stuff!

From http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/2378/tea-review-celestial-seasonings-sleepytime-vanilla-3/ – It’s all About the Leaf – go read more reviews!

I have a confession. I consider myself an herbal tea fan. Yet, I hate chamomile.

And a lot of teas, especially ones designed to soothe and relax, like to focus on chamomile. So I used to convince myself (on those nights where I’ve had a horrible long day and want a nice, mellow cup of tea to help me relax) that maybe the chamomile won’t be so bad this time. So I brew, and I relax, and I sip. And then I go and calmly dump the cup out and wonder why it’s still on my shelf of tea. Blech.

This cycle continued until I found Sleepytime Vanilla. This is an herbal tea, designed to relax you. And it has chamomile in it. And I actually like it. The blend of mint and vanilla with the chamomile mellows the flavor, and enhances the brew. As you sip, you’re first hit by the mint and chamomile, pleasantly combined, then the vanilla shows up with a creamy aftertaste. The flavors play off each other, and remove whatever it is that consistently makes me go BLEA.

These days, when I’ve had a horrible long day and want to relax, this tea is the one that finds its way into my cup. I sip contentedly, and actually gain that relaxation I am so craving.

I’m making a huge mistake by drinking this at my desk today. I really love this tea, but work may not be the best place to drink it.

I really liked this tea, exactly for the reason that the vanilla muted the overwhelming flowery-ness of the original. I like fruity teas, but not really floral teas. And this was no longer overwhelmingly floral. It was just a nice mellow tea for sipping as I went to bed. Yum.

This is a wonderful Christmas blend. I’m having it tonight steeped in a pretty normal little tea or coffee mug, to take off the edge of being so far from home and from my normal holidays celebrations. It’s sweet and earthy and the spice hits just right. (Which I really, really wasn’t expecting, because I remember disliking this Celestial Christmas blend a lot last year.)

I love almonds, however I did not enjoy this tea at all.

This is a nice tea and one of the few Celestial Seasonings teas that works for me. Great as a morning tea for friends who are over early or for myself when I’m out of my other yerba mates.

I’m a huge fan of white tea. I am not a huge fan of Celestial Seasonings. I should have known better, but the idea of pear white tea (now that Republic of Tea no longer has one) was irresistible. Like most, I was disappointed. White tea has to be steeped in a different way, but this still didn’t make a great cup. The pear flavor was too subtle and it seems they tried to compensate for that with vanilla. Vanilla overpowers the pear and isn’t terribly strong itself.

The idea was a good one, but is hardly perfect. I’d like to see a redone version with more pear, no vanilla, and higher quality tea leaves. You usually get what you pay for. $2 tea is still $2 tea. Anyone who had a bitter cup, make sure you use less than boiling water and only steep for a minute or two. Better white teas will still be good if you steep them longer, but this one gets quite bitter.

I’m a huge fan of spearmint so this is a great tea for me. While it doesn’t exactly put me to sleep it’s great when you’re winding down after dinner.

Weird concoction of floral and grassy flavors with a hint of mint. Somewhat of an identity crisis, but manages to hold it’s own.

This tea is quite tasty, though all of the flavors are very “light”. I think that’s a good thing, though, because, with a lot of the flavored green teas, the added flavors tend to overwhelm the green tea. Not so in this case.

I’d definitely try this again.

(I received this tea in a tea swap on Livejournal.)

perfumey scent but no pear flavor when brewed. Blah. I couldn’t give mine away!

This was a rather nice, smooth flavor. I steeped it pretty much all day in a carafe that I carry around while working. It’s not the most amazing green tea, given that I’m living in Korea right now, but it was a good average green tea.

I really enjoy this tea, and it seems more innately sweet than most peppermint teas. It actually reminds me more of a candy cane than straight peppermint, so the art on the box is really appropriate. It’s great nonetheless, especially with milk or cream.

Tension Tamer is a favorite for my mother and me, and in my opinion, it is one of the best herb teas available from Celestial Seasonings. While bagged teas are never quite as good as the full leaf alternative, they are more widely available.

I have experimented quite a bit with this tea. It is good as a hot tea, as well as iced. I have also brewed iced tea mixing this with the Republic of Tea’s Mint Fields Herb Tea. It makes an excellent summer tea: light and refreshing!

45 second steep made this tea even better than the 1 min. steep that I reported before. Remember to let the boiling water sit for 5-8 min. first before pouring. I really think the rating/score on this tea is misleading and low as a result of improper brewing. Less is more!

This tea has to be steeped “perfectly” for it to taste good and not bitter. First time I had this tea it was bitter but that’s because I used boiling/near boiling water. Here’s how to make the perfect cup:
I guessed on the water temperature scale (I don’t have a thermometer) but basically I boiled the water and then let it sit for several minutes (5-8) and then poured it over the tea bag in my mug. I timed the steep for exactly one minute.

The pear flavour isn’t overly fruity/sweet but you can definitely taste it.
The great thing about this tea is that it is the fastest steep of all my teas, it’s low on caffeine but a great ‘pick me up’ for the a.m., and using a lower water temp. meant that I didn’t have to wait for it to cool before drinking.

So don’t let the low Steepster rating talk you out of trying this tea. I purchased it on sale at the local health food store for $1.80 CDN – *TIP: watch for clearance sales on teas that only have a month or two before the expiry date. It’s a cheaper way to try new flavours.

Smell: Vanilla cookie and mint
Taste: Mint mainly. Reminds me of chocolate covered mint – like “After Eight”.
Overall impression: I like it.

Acceptable from a tasting point of view, but we didn’t really see an improvement in sleep.

An invigorating, delicious tea that makes a great pick-me-up. The peppermint is not overwhelming, and mixes well with the spices.

You can smell this steeping if you are just standing beside it. I’m surprised the flavour is so light with so much lovely aroma. I think I may try 3 tea bags next time. I need to use it up anyway (best before date approaching!).
*Improves slightly with 3 teabags. I will try even more bags in a pot sometime and report again.
*6 tea bags in about 4 cups of water. Nice smell, but still not much taste. It’s odd. The only other suggestion I have is to try it as an iced tea.